The most enjoyable aspect of travelling in Cuba is the opportunity to engage with the friendly, humorous and gregarious Cubans. During our fifteen day tour of Cuba we stayed predominantly in “casa particulares”, which simply means private houses and this maximised our opportunity to meet Cubans.
The family live in the house however they have rooms that are let out to tourists. At any location our group of 9 will be split over a number of casas within the same area, with one house acting as the main house where we reconnect. Most of the houses probably started as a one room building and over the years rooms have been added as needed. Continue reading →
Moving through Cuba is a travellers delight. In Cuba the humble horse and cart are not relics from the past, they are part of the daily urban and rural transport system.
Saddled and bare backed cowboys, some with family groups straggled along the horse, ride through the town, hooves clattering on the cobble-stoned streets. In Trinidad, cowboys congregated to Continue reading →
Niagara Falls are actually three waterfalls, The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border, The American Falls, strangely enough on the American side of the border and the much smaller Bridal Veil Falls also on the American side.*
Niagara falls have a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the falls but if you assume that those daredevils are all fool hardy young men think again. The first person to go over the falls in a barrel, in 1901, was Continue reading →
When I travel, part of the fascination is seeing the different ways we all live our lives, both good and bad. As we travelled in America I became disturbed at the amount of trash we seemed to be leaving in our wake. I know that when travelling, and buying food on the run, you increase your consumption of disposable products and convenience foods, but I started to feel guilty about the large amount of garbage we were creating each day. Then I realised that most times when we ate, even in restaurants, we were given items that ended up in the rubbish bins. We needed to slash the trash!
At a motel Continental breakfast, the entire crockery and cutlery was disposable. So just to eat cereal and juice we binned two plastic spoons, two plastic bowls, two plastic glasses, two paper coffee cups, one plastic stirrer (we shared) along with the usual waste of serviettes, sugar packets and yoghurt containers. That’s a lot of trash!
At another cute café where we ate, we still received paper coffee cups, plastic stirrers, and sauce in individual disposable containers. When we bought popcorn for the train trip it was already packaged in a paper bag but was placed in a plastic bag, inside a paper carrier bag. In our hotel rooms the drinking glasses have been plastic and individually wrapped in plastic.
I never dreamed I would end up in an Amish community. I love how this holiday has evolved, right from the beginning it has been driven by our desire to connect with friends and family outside of Australia, and of course see the world! This led us to Frank and Marilyn, who we had met on a bike and barge trip in France three years ago, and their wonderfully relaxing home at Spirit Lake, Iowa. For the first few days I literally had no idea where we were. We arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and quickly crossed into Iowa, leaving the big cities behind, through prairies planted with lush green corn as far as the eye could see. I had a very poor understanding of the geographical layout of the Midwest states, initially didn’t have a map, and with no internet connection, I was simply somewhere with complete faith that Marilyn and Frank would lead me to wherever I needed to be.
After Steven’s accident we needed to change our activities from biking and boating to Continue reading →
It’s been a week since Steven’s water skiing accident in Spirit Lake, Iowa, see the blog The Spirit Lake Paramedics – a welcome sight. His buttock and leg is sore and yesterday the bruising appeared. Now the back of his thigh is an interesting pattern of mottled black, blue and yellow and he has an intriguing bright blue spider web bruise on his buttock.
He has graduated from crutches to an old man, collapsible walking stick and with the help of analgesics and muscle relaxants is managing to get around quite well. We are back on the road again with minimal changes to our travel plans. My fury at him contracting “I’m really a young man” disease and attempting to water ski after 20 years, with no preparation, is dissipating and I am treating him with kindness…. Mostly!
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I’m not really angry at having to manage ALL the bags!
We were able to stay and enjoy the tranquility of Spirit Lake for a few days longer, thanks to the generosity of our hosts Marilyn and Frank and we will always remember the kindness of their neighbours who provided Continue reading →
New York is a city of culture. Of museums and art galleries so we started at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). The MOMA states it is dedicated to being the foremost museum of contemporary art in the world so we gorged ourselves on the likes of Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Henry Matisse until we Continue reading →
We spent four glorious days on the North Fork of Long Island. We couldn’t have had a more relaxing start to the USA part of our trip, or stayed in a place that provided such a contrast to our time in Asia and UAE. It was wonderful to be surrounded by lush green grass, an abundance of trees, farms, wineries, crystal clear waters and gorgeous picturesque villages.
North Fork is about 75 miles east of Manhattan, just over 2 hours drive from JFK. It’s a popular Continue reading →
We flew from Lhasa, Tibet, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in one day, so the least we could expect was a dose of culture shock. We went from one of the least commercialised and underdeveloped countries in the world to one where retail malls are touted as major tourist attractions and development includes building fake islands.in the shape of a palm. We left Tibet not being able to breathe due to the high altitude, and became breathless in Dubai due to the vile heat which a 44 degree temperature produces.
We were excited to arrive in the Middle East and initially were drawn to the one of the older areas of Dubai, the Creek which has served as a minor port for vessels trading from India and East Africa.
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We took a lazy abra ride along the Creek, sweltered as we wandered through the fabric souk and gulped down icy cold lemon and mint drinks when we lunched in the Bastakia area.
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Love the dancer behind me
We resisted the call of the malls as we are not shoppers but somehow we succumbed to the tantalising air-conditioning in Dubai Mall (the world’s largest shopping mall based on total area) and as we sank gratefully into the plush cushions of the Times of Arabia restaurant in the Souk area of the mall, we embraced Dubai.
This is a city with a population of 2 million but only 10-15% are local Emiratis. The rest of the population are expatriates, chiefly Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshis, Filipinos and Somalis. About 6 million international visitors arrive each year. I get a sense that Dubai expects all expatriates and visitors to spend significant time shopping and staying in ultra-expensive hotels.
One of two indoor waterfalls with fake divers
Development is around every corner and huge air-conditioned undercover areas where you can shop, snow ski, Continue reading →
We experienced these glimpses of Tibetan life. A life very different from that which we have lived.
Inside a Tibetan house
The two small boys stood watching me solemnly, standing against the wall with their mother a brief distance away. We had stopped in their village to take photos of the yak dung covered walls, drying in the sun so that later they could be used as fuel for the fire.
Yak dung covered walls
I walked up to the boys smiling but their solemn expression didn’t change, they were wary of me, one of four strange looking foreigners who had alighted from a van. I had two bright juicy oranges that I wanted to share with the boys. After a nod of consent from their mother I gave each of the boys an orange. Their faces broke into smiles and they clutched their gifts tightly. We stood there smiling at each other for a while then I wandered back to the van assuming that we were about to depart, however our guide, who knew of my desire to see inside a Tibetan house, spoke with the boys’ mother and she invited us in.
From outside the house appeared of good quality and quite a substantial size, two storey and rectangular, typical of the houses in the area.
The most enjoyable aspect of travelling in Cuba is the opportunity to engage with the friendly, humorous and gregarious Cubans. During our fifteen day tour of Cuba we stayed predominantly in “casa particulares”, which simply means private houses and this maximised our opportunity to meet Cubans.
